10 Reminders For My Team

Today was a strange one for me as I finished my current role before our adventure starts in Bendigo. Over the past 14 months, I have had the privilege of working with some terrific people and I have valued my time there.

In my final team meeting, I shared 10 simple principles that I wanted my guys to remember me by and I hope that they are helpful reminders for you as well.

Here they are:

A smile costs nothing, but contributes a lot. It’s not a badge of honour to huff and puff and complain about how busy you are. It’s a key to success to be able to rise above the chaos and maintain a positive demeanour,

Turn up every day. Reliability is under-rated and many a career has been de-railed as a consequence of inconsistency of attendance, performance and attitude. The key element here is what will surprise others – when you turn up, or when you don’t,

Be a go-giver, not a go-getter. Look for opportunities to add value to the people around you. If we can create a culture where everyone is looking out for each other instead of themselves, you will each have a lot of people investing in your success,

Walk in the door with enthusiasm and purpose. The moment your foot hits the floor when getting out of the lift, have your shoulders back, your head up high and stride out with boundless energy to take on the challenges ahead,

Care… about your work, your customers, your colleagues. Set a high standard for what you do, treat your Members as people and build strong relationships with the people you work with. Find out the names of their kids, partner, cat, rabbit etc. This matters more than you could possibly imagine,

Be a thermostat, not a thermometer. Everyone has the capacity to lead and we set the temperature, we are not impacted by it. We change the atmosphere through our passion and optimism, and nothing can shake that,

Celebrate your uniqueness. Yes, you’re weird and flawed (aren’t we all?), but you also have strengths, experiences and perspectives that no-one else has. Remember the words of Mother Teresa, “I can do things that you can not do, you can do things that I can not do, together we can do great things.”

Control the controllables. You can’t do everything, but you can always do something. You may not be able to control how many calls come in, but you can control how many brilliant conversations you have,

Fridays are a day of reflection, not relief. One of the company values was to “Be Proud,” so before you celebrate the end of the week’s work, reflect on it. What are you most proud of? What did you learn? What will you do better next time?

Never stop learning. The future belongs to the person who has the discipline to read and the courage to respond positively to feedback. If you never stop learning, you will be an unstoppable force in the months and years ahead.

I hope that they are helpful. Is there anything that you would add to the list?